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THE RAMAKRISHNA KALPATARU

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first day of January, besides being the New Year day, is of

 

special significance to a Ramakrishna~devotee. This is the day of the

 

Self~revelation of the Great Master when he became, what is now

 

popularly called, the Kalpataru `the wish-fulfilling tree.'

 

 

 

It happened in 1886 at Kasipur where the Master had been undergoing

 

treatment for his throat cancer. On January 1st, he felt particularly

 

better and came down from his room for a stroll on the spacious lawns

 

of the garden-house. About thirty devotees were present and were

 

scattered here and there in the garden. As soon as they saw the

 

Master, they all came near him and bowed down. To Girish, the Master

 

said, `Girish, what have you seen that makes you glorify me publicly

 

before one and all?' Girish at once fell at the Master's feet and

 

said with folded hands and choked voice, `What more can I say of Him,

 

even a fraction of whose glory Vyasa and Valmiki miserably failed to

 

express in their immortal epics and Puranas?' Hearing these words of

 

Girish, the Master was deeply charmed and his mind soared to a high

 

plane. Seeing the divinely illumined countenance of the Master,

 

Girish was thrilled and he cried out in great joy, `Glory unto

 

Ramakrishna! Glory unto Ramakrishna!' and began taking

 

the dust of his feet again and again. The Master looked at all

 

present and said smilingly, `What more shall 1 say to you? May you

 

all be spiritually awakened!' No sooner had he said these few words

 

than he went into Samadhi. What followed is best described in the

 

words of Swami Saradananda, who had seen the whole episode from a

 

distance:

 

 

 

"When the devotees heard those words of blessings and protection from

 

fear, they raised repeated cries of joy. exclaiming, `Glory to

 

Ramakrishna.' some of them saluted him, some showered flowers, some

 

again came and touched his feet."

 

 

 

The Master touched the devotees in that state of Samadhi and blessed

 

them all. The effect was instantaneous. Swami Saradananda's account

 

continues:

 

 

 

"...there arose by that marvellous touch a wonderful mood in the mind

 

of each. Some of them began to laugh, some to weep, some to meditate,

 

and some again to call aloud all others in order that they might also

 

be blessed by receiving the grace of the Master ... and be sharers in

 

the bliss that was overflowing."

 

 

 

On later enquiry it was known that the devotees blessed by the Master

 

on that day had wonderful spiritual experiences and visions. Some

 

felt bliss and a sort of divine intoxication, some experienced the

 

creeping blissful sensation of the rising Kundalini, some saw

 

ecstatic visions of their chosen deities, some saw divine light. All

 

the experiences were unique, each in its own way. Although they

 

differed in their content, the feeling of being filled with an

 

extraordinary divine bliss was common to all.

 

 

 

As the Master had granted unstinted grace to one and all, some felt

 

that he had revealed himself as the Kalpataru on that day. The first

 

of January thus came to be known as the Kalpataru Day. The, Kasipur

 

residence became

 

naturally the focus of attention. Sri Ramakrishna had stayed in the

 

house for more than eight months and, to crown it all, had showered

 

this special peace on the devotees on the 1st of January. Even today,

 

devotees of Sri Ramakrishna from all over the world pour into the

 

holy precincts of the Kasipur house to feel the living presence of

 

the Master and to share in the spiritual legacy left behind by him.

 

The pinnacle, of course, is reached every year on the Kalpataru Day

 

when thousands rush to Kasipur to recapture the `Kalpataru grace'

 

granted by the Master a century ago.

 

 

 

 

 

"God is Consciousness that pervades the entire universe of the living

 

and non~living."~ Sri Ramakrishna